Storage cabinet for phonograph records and the like



J. MANDEL Feb. 27, 1945.

STORAGE CABINET FOR PHONOGRAPH RECORDS AND THE LIKE Filed Oct. 7, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR t/a c a 6 Man de/ J. MANDEL Feb. 27, 1945.

STORAGE CABINET FOR PHONOGRAPH RECORDS AND THE LIKE Filed Oct. 7. 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 iliisabm INVENTOR Jaca Nande/ A 770RNYJ Patented Feb. 27, 1945 .13. i: l'

OFFICE STORAGE CABINET Fort rnonodmrn nnoorms ANn'rnnm Jacob Mandel, New York, N. Y. Application October 7,1942, sensin 461,105

The present invention relates to cabinet or magazines for receiving and storing phonograph records and articles of similar shape, such as film rolls and the like, and more particularly, to a cabinet or magazine having selector mechanism whereby any desired record or roll or the like may be removed from the cabinet without disturbing the other contents thereof.

It is the general object of the invention to provide an improved storage cabinet for phonograph records and the like, in which the records may be stored in a manner in which they will be protected against dust, mechanical injury, etc.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a storage cabinet for phonograph records in which there is incorporated a selector device for removing at will any particular record'with out disturbing or scratching the other records.

It is a-still further object of the invention-to provide a record cabinet having a selector mechanism associated therewith, in which such selector mechanism is built into a swinging front wall of the cabinet, so that the record is removed from its position within the cabinet upon opening of the door of the latter;

It is also an object of the invention to'provide a storage cabinet for phonograph records and the like which readilylends itself to'simulation of various objects normally present in the living room of a home, such as a book or series of books.

The above and other objects of the invention will be apparent as the further descriptionv of the invention proceeds; and the features of novelty will be set out in the appended claims.

The accompanying drawings show, by way of example, a satisfactory embodiment of the invention. In said drawings, Q

Fig. 1 is a front view in elevation of a record cabinet constructed in accordance with the vention;

Fig; 2 represents a verticalsection along-the line II---II of Fi 1; j

Fig. 3 is a side view in elevation showing the manner of removing a record from Within'the cabinet;

Fig. 4 shows the cabinet in horizontal section along the line IV-IV of Fig. 2; I Figs. 5 and 6 are enlarged detailed views; and

Fig. 7 illustrates a suitable form of index card which can be concealed in the bottom wallof the cabinet. I

-Referring to the drawings, the numeral IO- indicates a casing or a cabinet made of wood, plywood, paper board, or other-suitable material, which maybe provided with a surface'layer- -'l l of 9Claim s. ,.(o1."s12 ,19 )f metal, leatheryor other decorative finish. The

casing is composed of top wall lfla, bottom wall [0b, and rear wall' I90, and with side walls IOd whose front edge'extends at an angle to the vertical, as is best seen in Fig. 3. The front Wall of the casing is constituted of a closure member 12 which is on a hinge l3 by which it is secured to the bottom wall lb of the casing. The closure member is provided with a knob 14 by the aid of whichit is opened and closed. The swinging movements of the closure member are guided by slotted elements l5, pivoted at IE on side flanges I! forming part of the closure member, the slots 15a being engaged by pins l8 extending inwardly from the side walls of the casing, the element l5 also limiting the downward movement of the member I1, as shown in Fig. 3. The side and top walls of the casing are rabbeted as shown at 19; where the side and top walls are made of or faced with metal, such rabbeting is effected by bending the walls inwardly, as indicated in Fig. 5. Theclosure member I2 is held in closed position by means of a friction detent 20 engaging a friction plate 2|- secured to the top wall Ila of the closure member (Fig. 2).

; -In theinterior of the casing there is provided a rack 22 composed of a seriesof partitions 23 spaced apart a sufiicient distance to accommodate a disc record 24 of usual construction. The partitions are of approximately triangular shape, as shown in Fig; 2, the upper edges 25 of the partitions extending along an angle of about 40.

The casing is of 'sufiicient depth to accommodate the largest size of disc record (12 inches), and the shape and height of the partitions areso chosen that the forward and upper edges of the discs are kept out of contact with each other, especially when one of the records is withdrawn, as will be explained more fully below. To insure keeping" the records out of contact with each other, the casing may be provided with a second rack- 26 secured to the top wall of the casing and provided with partitions registering with thoseof the rack 22 and engaging the upper portions of the records. It will, however, be found that where the rack 22 is made of sufilcient depth, the upper rack 26 can be dispensed with. The rack may-be made of plywood, molded or pressed paper board, metal, but preferably of relatively soft or soft-surfaced sheets or plates, so as not to injure the surfaces of the records.

According to the present invention, there is provided means for selectively engaging or grip- .ping one" of the records while the casing is closed and removing the record from the rack or racks simultaneously with opening of the closure member 12. To this end, I provide a selector mechanism which can be moved horizontally across the cabinet into position opposite the selected record, at which point it is manually operated to grip such record and hold the same as the closure member or front wall of the cabinet is opened. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, the selector mechanism comprises a rock lever 21 having a collar 28 loosely mounted on a sleeve 29 which in turn is slidable along a rod 30 supported by angle irons 3i secured in any suitable manner to the rear face of the front wall of the closure member l2 (see Fig. The sleeve 29 aids in providing the rock lever with a non-binding, sliding support on the rod 30, as will be readily understood.

The rock lever has one arm 32 thereof extending through a horizontal slot 33, the free'end of the arm being provided with a finger piece 34. The other arm of the rock lever is provided near its free end with a pair of spaced, resilient, gripping members 35, whose inner surfaces are pref-.

erably faced with pads 36 of rubber, felt, or other soft material, the free ends of the gripping members diverging from each other, as is best seen in Fig. 5. Upon the outside of the closure member l2, and in registry with the slot 33, there is provided a similarly slotted index plate 31 which has a series of notches 38 corresponding in position with the record spaces of the rack 22.

The operation of the described structure will be evident from the foregoing description and may be briefly set forth as follows:

The records, either of uniform or miscellaneous sizes, are stored in the cabinet, the records being placed in appropriate compartments of the rack or racks; that is, the various records will be placed in the rack in the order indicated by the numbers on the index plate 31, each number corresponding to a particular record. The cabinet being in the closed condition, the desired record is selected by merely sliding the selector mechanism 21 along its supporting rod until the lever is opposite the corresponding notch in the index plate.

Thereupon the lever is pressed downwardly into such notch, whereupon the gripping members 35 are brought into frictional engagement with the smooth marginal portion of the record. Upon opening of the front wall or door I2 with the aid of the knob 34, the record is pulled from the rack into the position shown in Fig. 3, where it can be conveniently lifted out of the cabinet.

The cabinet may be provided with a compartment for receiving an index card 39 (Fig. 7) upon which are listed the names of the selections recorded on the records. In the form of the in-- vention illustrated in the drawings, this compartment is formed by rabbeting the forward edge of the bottom wall of the cabinet, as shown at 40, a metal plate 4| being secured in any suitable manner to the bottom wall and being spaced at sufficient distance from the bottom wall to provide a space for the reception of the index card 39. The surface layer of leather or the like is extended to cover the 'metal plate 4|.

To prevent the gripper mechanism 21 from sliding off the sleeve 29, the ends of the latter may be expanded outwardly as indicated at 42, such enlarged ends thereby forming stops for the collar 28. v

The cabinet-can be constructed in such manner as to simulate in appearance a book or other object and a series of them then placed on a shelf or elsewhere. If desired, the whole structure can be built into a bookcase in which event the gripper mechanism will slide the whole length of the shelf; where the shelf is very long, two gripper mechanisms and if desired also two separate front walls or doors may be provided for each cabinet having a length corresponding to that of the shelf of a bookcase.

It will be understood that the gripping members are so disposed and of such length that they will engage either a 10 or 12-inch record at margins thereof. As already indicated, the cabinet can be made to house any reasonably larger number of records, than that for which the illustrated cabinet is designed, the cabinet being made correspondingly longer and the number of slots ll being correspondingly increased.

I claim:

1. A cabinet comprising a casing, a rack in the casing for holding a plurality of phonograph records in vertical position spaced from each other, the front wall of the casing being hinged at its bottom, and selector mechanism mounted on the front wall and engageable from outside the cabinet, when the front wall is closed, to grip a selected record and withdraw the same a the front wall is opened.

2. A cabinet as set forth in claim 1, wherein the front wall is provided with side flanges and wherein the selector mechanism is mounted within such flanges.

3. A cabinet comprising a casing, a rack inside the casing for holding a plurality of phonograph records in vertical position spaced from each other, the front wall of th cabinet being hinged at its bottom to the bottom wall of the cabinet, the front wall being provided with a horizontal slot, a gripping member having a portion passing through the slot, and means for slidably supporting the gripping member, said gripping member being movable into position opposite a selected record for gripping engagement with said record, whereby upon swinging movement of the front wall to open position, the selected record is withdrawn from the cabinet.

4. A cabinet comprising a casing, a rack inside the casing for holding a plurality of phonograph records in vertical position spaced from each other, the cabinet including top, bottom, side, rear and front walls, the front wall being pivoted at its bottom to the bottom wall, and the front edges of the side walls slanting rearwardly from the bottom to the top wall, the front wall being provided with side flanges fitting the front margins of the side walls, a rod supported between the said flanges, a gripper mechanism slidably supported on said rod for movement into position opposite a selected record, said mechanism including resilient gripping members adapted to engage the outer rims of the records, the front wall being provided with a horizontal slot opposite the rod, and an operating arm connected to the gripping mechanism and extending through the slot so as to be operable from outside the cabinet.

5. A cabinet comprising a casing, a rack inside the casin for holding a plurality of phonograph records in vertical position spaced from each other, the cabinet including top, bottom, side, rear, and front walls, the front wall being pivoted to the bottom wall, a rod supported upon the front wall and inside thereof, a slidable sleeve on said rod, a gripper mechanism slidably supported on said sleeve and movable along the rod into position opposite a selected record, the front wall being provided with a horizontal slot, and an operating arm connected to the gripping mechanism and extending through the slot so as to be operable from outside the cabinet.

6. A cabinet as set forth in claim 5, including an index plate upon the outside face of the front wall having an aperture in registry with the said slot and, provided with numbered notches corresponding to the stored records, the operating arm being adapted to be pressed downwardly into one of the notches as the gripper mechanism is caused to engage the corresponding record.

7. A cabinet comprising a casing, a rack inside the casing for holding a plurality of phonographrecords in vertical position spaced from each other, the cabinet including top, bottom, side, rear, and front walls, the front wall being pivoted at its bottom to the bottom wall, a rod supported from the front Wall at the inside thereof, gripper mechanism slidably supported on said rod and including an operating arm, a horizontal slot in the front wall through which said arm passes for manual engagement externally of the cabinet, and an index plate secured to the front wall adjacent to said slot and having a series of notches corresponding to the successive rack positions, said operating arm being adapted to be depressed into a selected notch to bring the gripper mechanism into engagement with th corresponding record.

8. A storage cabinet comprising a casing, a rack within the casing for holding a plurality of phonograph records in vertical position, and selector mechanism operable from outside the cabinet and including a member for selectively gripping the forward edges of a record for removal from the cabinet, said gripping member spanning only a single record and movable laterally'into registry with the selected record in front of the record, said cabinet including a hinged front wall, the selector mechanism being mounted on said wall and acting to withdraw the selected record upon swinging of said Wall to open position, said mechanism including a rod extending along the length of the cabinet transversely of the stored records, the record-gripping member being slidable on said rod.

9. A cabinet comprising a casing, a rack inside the casing for storing a plurality of phonograph records in spaced parallel relation, the casing including a door member hinged along one edge thereof, record-engaging means inside the casing and operatively associated with th door to be actuated, upon opening of the door, to advance a selected record to a position wherein it can conveniently be seized between the fingers, and manually operable selector means for predetermlningthe record to be advanced and accessible from outside the door when th latter is in closed position.

JACOB MANDEL. 

